Where else but the Vision Festival, in the US at least, would you find a night given to two participants in that legendary extended fanfare the world knows as Ascension. One still works among us, John Tchicai, and the other left us since Vision Festival last conveved.

Marion Brown was a wonder. He was among the early inventors of mixed medium work incorporating poetry, visual arts and the timbres of alto saxophone and flute. He was most avid to work with early explorers from the AACM when they began to leave Chicago.

He had a particularly expansive relationship with Wadada Leo Smith when both lived along different parts of the Connecticut River valley. They collaborated on a memorable run of Impulse releases, a favor passed from Coltrane to Wadada carried by Mr. Brown.

Marion Brown was also a rigorous ethnomusicologist and had an elaborate correspondence with Kwabena Nketia from Ghana.

They worked out a number of specific features generally common to nearly all African and African Diaspora musical forms. While anyone is welcome to incorporate them from any culture, the combination creates recognizable sonic signatures and suggests patterns of relationship between the Mother Land and the New World.

Among these are the use of hocquet, poly rhythm and poly meter, ululation and sonic texture or buzz called the mirliton effect. All in all, it is a very useful orientation and is among his many under appreciated contributions.

In the fifties I enjoyed latin music. Then in the sixties I heard Stanz Getz and Charlie Byrd with Desafinado. That led me on the path to jazz.
Always interested in photography, so in the early '70s I started combining the two

In the fifties I enjoyed latin music. Then in the sixties I heard Stanz Getz and Charlie Byrd with Desafinado. That led me on the path to jazz.
Always interested in photography, so in the early '70s I started combining the two. No financial rewards, but immense satisfaction and, thanks to
linking up with writer Stan Britt, managed to meet (and photograph) some of my heroes: Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson.
Best gigs? Sinatra with Basie at the RFH, London, and Dexter Gordon at Ronnie Scott's.
Advice to new photographers? Be polite, obtain permission, remain invisible, and always thank when possible the musicians and venue operators.

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